Kinship in rural Pakistan: Consanguineous marriages and their implications for women

Abstract

Synopsis Based on an ethnographic study in the Khairpur region of Pakistan, this article examines consanguineous marriages which remain the preferred choice among rural Pakistanis; these marriages are central to the kinship system and are used to strengthen ties within the kin group. I seek to explore the under-explained factors that make consanguineous marriages so strongly favored in the patrilineal and patriarchal kinship system of rural Pakistan. I argue that close kin marriages offer social as well as economic benefits to the villagers and fulfill their need for social security, which the state fails to provide, but carry considerable costs for women. Despite this, women themselves favor these marriages. I explore this paradox in relation to the constrained lives women lead within a strongly patriarchal gender order.